Sep 2017 The Road to Daybreak A Spiritual Journey by Henri J M Nouwen

Expensive Sandbox Games   (Continue from) I stayed in the house of Richard's friend Jack, a Los Angeles film producer. For four months he had been out of work, and his financial situation had become so critical that he was thinking about subletting parts of his house to get enough money to pay his bills. But last week everything changed. He was hired to become the producer of an NBC situation comedy called "Amen," which will be broadcast this coming fall. Suddenly Jack has a splendid office with a large staff and a salary of $2,700 a week! If the series proves to be successful, his salary will substantially increase, and if he establishes himself as a sought-after producer, he will be a millionaire within a few years. If things fail, he will be subletting his house soon because he likes to spend money as much as to earn it. The "Amen" series revolves around the shenanegans of an outrageous deacon who manipulates his all-black church and its congregation. Although its scripts include some social and ethical issues, it is still very much the standard formula TV network sitcom. My friend Richard White, who has been staying with Jack for the past few months, called Jack's work "sandbox games." Jack totally agreed -he was playing with a two-million-dollar project, the purpose of which was to make a lot of money by giving a couple of million viewers some good laughs. As Jack was talking to me, full of excitement about his new job and all the money he was going to make, I was struck by the blatant superficiality of it all. Jack himself is a paradox of our culture. He reads Jean-Paul Sartre, is trying to find funding for an excellent movie script he wrote on one man's courageous stand against the Nazis, and is working on another script about apartheid in South Africa. At the same time he calls himself a "hired gun," eager to sell his talents to the Hollywood production companies. Like many cinemagraphic artists, he sees the world through the eyes of the camera and is enthralled with the visual effects his art can create almost without regard for the subject matter. As Richard and I had dinner, Richard asked me, "Why do the people who want to stop war, prevent tourture, make people aware of injustice, and care for the sick and the handicapped never have enough money, while those who play these sandbox games earn more than they know what to do with?' It is the question that haunted the Old Testament prophets and psalmists and is still haunting us today. I could only say, "Let us not be jealous. God loves the poor and the humble of heart. That knowledge should be enough." But the fact that I was not wholly without jealously and resentment showed that maybe God was not as real for me as the sandbox games are for Jack. A Vision and a Task   On my way from California to Paris I am spending a few days in London. This afternoon I visited Donal Reeves, the pastor of St James's Anglican Church in Piccadilly. Donald Reeves is a man of many gifts: He is an activist, a contemplative, a social worker, an artist, a caring pastor, a restless mover, a visionary, and a pragmatist. In five years he converted a practically lifeless downtown Anglican parish into a vibrant center of prayer and action. When I arrived at the rectory I could sense the vibrancy of the place: Within a few minutes I had met a bishop, a Jew, an ex-convict, an artist, and an administrator. Donal introduced them all to me with words of praise and encouragement. You could sense that people were doing new things here, things they believed in. The parish is a place for meditation, counselling, art events, concerts, peacemaking, book publishing, and hospitality. It is a place that welcomes traditional Christians as well as people who feel alienated from the Church. It is an incredibly diverse place, embracing charismatics as well as activitis, Christians as well as non-Christians. Listening to Donald, I realized how much he had been influenced by new communities in the United States, especially the Sojourners' Fellowship and the Church of the Saviour in Washington, D.C. I felt invigorated just being with him and walking around the place with him. I was ready to promise all sorts of things: lectures, retreats, writing, conversations, and discussions. But I controlled my impulse to help and asked for simple fellowship instead. Being connected with this church as a friend, a supporter, and a fellow traveller seems most important of all. As I left, Donald gave me some of his writings. One on the cover of his "ten-year plan" for the Church he wrote:     A vision without a task is a dream;     A task without a vision is drudgrery;     A vision and a task is the hope of the world. Nothing better can sum up the spirit of St James' of Piccadilly than these words.

- To Be Continued - © Copyright Shalom 2017. All rights reserved.